


Neon Noir

by twinklehwa



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Drug Dealing, Drug Use, Gangs, Jongho!gang leader, M/M, Minor Character Death, Minor Injuries, Minor WooSan, Sex Work, neon-noir
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:07:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23546623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twinklehwa/pseuds/twinklehwa
Summary: To outsiders, this looked like a place people go when their dreams die. But really, this is where you go when your dreams turn wicked. Once you’ve crossed over, there is no way back. But once you’re sucked in, there’s no way in hell you’ll want to leave. Time doesn’t exist and your judgment is always foggy, but under the fluorescent lights, everyone is a little bolder and braver.
Relationships: Choi San/Jung Wooyoung, Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa
Comments: 6
Kudos: 27





	1. One.

The first thing Seonghwa noticed when he first woke up was how bad his jaw hurt. Before he even opened his eyes, the pain set in mouth and traveled up his jawline as he cupped the ride side of his face, feeling for blood. 

The second thing he noticed was how god damn bright outside it was. Despite boarding up the only window in his tiny room, and adding a curtain, the light would always find a way to seep through the cracks. This really shouldn’t come as a shock anymore. The only place you could escape the light was underground, and that place was a brutal death sentence waiting to happen. But realistically, so was above ground, except it was just a lot more dramatic.

The third thing was the hum. Just like the fluorescent light, the hum was something that you could never escape. It became a part of you, it attached to you and clung on for dear life, determined to either drag you down or rise to the top with you. Whichever outcome was up to you. For some, it drove them absolutely insane to the point of escaping into the tunnels, lost to the darkness. For some, they embraced the sound and used it to fuel them in their quest for money, power, and sex.

For most people, such as Seonghwa, the hum was similar to a gnat. Never troublesome enough to cause any harm, but never silent enough to forget about entirely. It just was, and you learned to live with it. 

Ah yes, pains, brightness, and the hum. This is what the average morning of Park Seonghwa, the well-known Deputy in Cheif of the great Calamity Clan, looked like. He stood up and once again felt around his jaw for blood, trying to think back if the pain originated from an actual fight or something more…promiscus. Oh nope, there was blood, definitely a fight.

Despite the room being lit up a dull cyan from the outside signs, he could barely see a foot in front of him and he was surprised he made it to the bathroom without tripping over anything or running into something causing his pain to only increase. As he turned on his dull, pale yellow light, the now louder hum made his head pound and the urge to bash his head into the wall even greater. Seonghwa splashed some water from the faucet onto his face and ran it through his dark, shaggy hair. He had absolutely no idea what time it was, yet time mattered little anymore. When you sleep you sleep, when you go out you go out. There was no set schedule here for there was nothing that needed to get done. 

This small pocket of hell on Earth was Utopia. The perfect mix of desolation and exhilaration where anything goes. Utopia had two sections, the commercial district, and the fluorescent district. Despite the name, the Commercial district was a wasteland devoid of color, light, and life. Factories and workhouses seemed to take up any space in the region, pumping out smog and steam 24/7 and if there was any sign of life, it was limited to small sounds only heard on the border between the two sectors. 

The Fluorescent district was inherently the opposite. Seonghwa can’t remember a time where the sky was anything but inky black, whether from the smoke or from god knows what. Despite it never once raining, you were bound to step in puddles wherever you walked and the air always smelled of a strange mix of sewer waste and rain. If you knew where to look, you could easily be swallowed by crowds of people and lose track of time for hours. 

While not everyone engaged in what most people would call “illegal activities”, you didn’t have to walk far until you stumbled upon someone intoxicated out of their mind or had stars in their eyes from foreign substances. But yes this was the little slice of heaven Seonghwa called home for better or worse. 

Still lightly holding his jaw, Seonghwa threw on a plain black t-shirt and black cargo pants hoping this would help him blend into the night as much as possible. His tiny apartment pretty much only had a bed, a closet, and a bathroom with lights that barely worked. But of course, lighting was provided, it just happened to be bright pink and never shut off. The only time he ever heard his neighbors was when the door slammed shut to signal their safe arrival home and was commonly followed by the sound of a bed squeaking and lewd noises he wishes he could forget. The elevator in his apartment stopped working a long time ago so on days he really didn’t want to take the stairs down four flights (such as today) he opted for the fire escape that you could get to from climbing through the busted window at the end of the hall.

As soon as he left his room Seonghwa’s eyes were instantly overwhelmed by the different colors of light that came flooding through the opening at the end of the hall, but after blinking a few times, he quickly adjusted and was on the move. On days where he wasn’t working, he wouldn’t be afraid of wearing something more flashy and revealing while walking around seeing what kind of adventures he could find out in the city. But on days like today, blending in with whatever shadows there were was imperative in case any prying eyes caught wind of where he was headed. Calamity might control the entire drug highway in and out of Utopia, but it was their rivals, Infrared, who controlled the real gold mine - the sex work network. 

If that was how you chose to spend your time, you had to get a special kind of “certification” from the leader himself before you could start working, otherwise, you’d meet a fate that Seonghwa didn’t even want to think about. In a way, they were making sure that the people were only getting the best of the best, but according to the whispers on the streets, the test to see if you were qualified to work the streets was subjecting yourself to their leader and other members and serve them however they choose for however long they seem fit.

Seonghwa just shivered at the thought as he climbed through the broken window onto the fire escape as he took his first look outside that day. The first thing he was greeted with was a neon pink sign right across the alleyway advertizing some foreign restaurant. Signs like these were common no matter where you were in the district, painfully bright signs in a language Seonghwa didn’t understand selling something that he couldn’t care enough about. And of course, the hum was the loudest at this height which once again reminded him of his headache that couldn’t go away quick enough.

As he scaled down the ladders he was met with a handful of sparks flying off of various electrical wiring and them landing way too close for comfort. It wasn’t until Seonghwa reached the ground and splashed in a small puddle that he could finally catch his breath and think relatively clearly for the first time. But sadly not for long as he had somewhere to be.

Without hesitation, Seonghwa started lightly jogging through a maze of alleyways and backroads as the night continued around him. Ducking past the occasional cluster of people out enjoying the night, this is where he felt most in his element. Being Deputy in Chief had a variety of jobs he needed to carry out, but his main position was being the eyes and ears on the street. While his boss was obviously the face of Calamity, Seonghwa’s appearance or name had no correlation to the gang. This along with his natural street smarts and ability to stay hidden was a wonderful combination and played into much of his group’s success. 

After his short jog through some of the sketchier streets of the North section of the district, he arrived at his preferred mode of transportation through the city - the railways. Similar to any standard metropolitan subway line except this one was almost completely abandoned except for the one working train that would constantly run without ever stopping. Most people who used the train would wait around a station of their choice and attempt to leap onto the moving train. Since it no longer had doors and many of the windows were busted through, the train wasn’t incredibly dangerous as long as you weren’t high or wasted out of your mind. Yet Seonghwa always found the train too slow and he could never time it’s arrival quite right. So instead of waiting, he stood several stories above ground on the track itself and started to run. 

Faster than through the alleyways, on top of the tracks was the only place Seonghwa felt any sense of clarity. The thump of his shoes on the metal was just as loud as the hum, and if you focused hard enough, the hum was gone almost entirely. Of course, it was still bright as day out, but the slight separation between the tracks and the lights was bliss. As he ran through the city, he always took a second to admire the strange beauty that was Utopia. Like something out of a movie, the buildings that scraped the sky were lit up with every color in the rainbow and near the ground taverns and restaurants lined the streets as people swarmed the streets.

As much as Seonghwa would love to appreciate the scenery, he had a pace to keep up and wouldn’t want the boss to wonder where he was. As he ran, he heard whispers from below asking who that stranger is running along the tracks and how dangerous that must be. Yet Seonghwa knew they were either dazed enough to not remember him when they woke up, or would soon be high as the stars without any care over what he did.

For a few short miles, Seonghwa felt truly free. His heart rate was steady yet the pounding in his chest and lungs served as a much-needed distraction and the fire in his muscles made him feel more alive than any drug or drink. But alas all good things must come to an end. Seonghwa slowed as he approached the next station, thankful the train hadn’t caught up with him on the way here and started to descend down the stairs of the deserted platform.

Once he had arrived in a new yet very familiar part of the city, he had to be more cautious of who saw him and the paths he took. After scouting around and finding the coast to be relatively clear, Seonghwa took off down a different set of back roads. The city in this part of the town physically looks almost identical, yet the people here were definitely a different sort. Now they were closer to the Northern border between the Commerical and Fluorescent district; aka, fewer people, but those who were here lived their lives knocked up on hallucinogens and party drugs without any sense of reality around them. For Seonghwa, this was good in theory, less likely to be acknowledged and easier to blend in, but in reality, these people were volatile and void of any common sense. One wrong move and you’d quickly have a gang of party-goers flocking you with your life in their hands.

As Seonghwa approached the border, he saw his destination in the distance; a large warehouse right next to an abandoned strip mall that glowed bright cyan. Other than two large, horizontal neon yellow rods highlighting the entrance, the warehouse blended in with the night sky and the dreary scenery behind it. Seonghwa was only two blocks away when he stopped running for the first time since he left his house as he slowed down to scout out the surrounding area. It’s unlikely that anyone would ever travel this close to the border, but it wasn’t uncommon for a handful of stragglers to wind up a few blocks away from their latest bar hopping adventures in front of Seonghwa’s destination. What seemed like an abandoned storage building from the outside was actually the hub for the Calamity Clan and Utopia’s largest drug network. 

He quickly made his way to the loading dock, the only real entrance, as the faint blue lit up his face. He ran his hands through his dark hair while scanning his surroundings one last time. As he hit the giant metal door signaling his presence, he imminently felt his jaw tighten as his eyes grew dark; there was always time for fun later but now was not the time. He heard faint whispers and laughs from behind the door, and as they slowly got closer to Seonghwa he could hear their topic of conversation was the one that was on all the minds of Calamity members.

“I don’t know how no one knows what happened to him, San hasn’t been able to find out anything which means-”, the hanger door raised with an earsplitting scrape that momentarily brought back Seonghwa’s headache. “Ah Seonghwa, just the man we were looking for,” Mingi, the self-proclaimed “muscles” of the team, said with his signature devilish smirk on his face. 

Seonghwa paid no attention to his playful tone as he walked past his friend and fellow member into the Calamity headquarters, the only place in Utopia without the glow of any artificial lighting. “Is that really the way to treat your younger brother, not even a simple hello?” Mingi closed the hanger door and spun into a fast walk so he could catch up to his friend so they could talk about the latest news that shook up the entire clan.

“Is Yeo here,” Seonghwa asked not slowing down or paying Mingi a glance as he continued through the large hall. “Affirmative, he got here just before you and we were waiting for you…” Mingi could barely finish his sentence as a shadow appeared from the far left suspended walkway hanging far above the ground. With a soft thud, the shadow slid down the ladder and hit the ground before turning and jogging to catch up with the duo. The vinyl flooring did little to help the shorter man as he was naturally accustomed to moving with silence, but his heavy breathing also made his presence well known. 

“What do you think Choi is gonna say about this?” Yeosang, the last one to join on the walk to the main office in the back, thought allowed as no one really knew how to respond. The best part about the warehouse wasn’t the fact that they had normal, dim lighting, it was the fact that there was no hum to be heard. As soon as you stopped talking there was complete silence with the only noise being your heartbeat. While it gave the three of them some peace and mind, it didn’t take long for the silence to become unnerving, leading to one of them (usually Mingi) to ramble on or talk to themselves just as a distraction.

The trio moved in tandem as they wove through piles of shipping crates and scaffolding. As they approached the very back and were nearing the leader’s room, or the former manager’s headquarters when this was still a functioning facility, the three of them exchanged nervous glances before approaching the metal door.

“We’re coming in, that’s alright, right?” Seonghwa asked the closed door and assumed that the lack of a response meant a yes. The door opened to reveal their leader typing away furiously at his computer, hair disheveled and eyes dark. Once he noticed the presence of the boys, he laid back in his chair before covering his eyes with his palms and exhaling loudly. “Alright boys, what’s the plan, what do we do now? Also for the love of god just call me Jongho none of that “sir” shit.” 

Jongho’s office had the same cold, no-nonsense energy that he did, yet when he wasn’t working he was actually a very warm person. 

Before Seonghwa went home last night, Mingi returned back to the warehouse with a look of shock on his face and an added tremble to his voice no one had ever heard. They had pulled him to Jongho’s room after he returned from signing an LSD deal and after a few minutes of consoling him and letting the man breathe, Mingi told the story of how when he opened one of the boxes to check the contents, he found the body of the (now former) leader of Infrared,  
YongHwan. Sealed away from the eyes of everyone except Calamity, Jongho was absolutely positive the placement was far from a coincidence. 

Of course, this brought up more questions than provided answers: how did the body get there, what could’ve caused YongHwan’s death when his clan worshipped him, but most importantly, who was running the show now? Similar to Calamity, the members of Infrared kept their identity relatively hidden, yet there were speculations about their appearances as their work was… visual-based to say the least.

“We have to act like this is an attack. We have no idea what this means or what’s coming next, so we need to act quickly.” Jongho’s character switched into proper “gang leader mode” while the three boys stood there, silently nodding their heads and wracking their brains trying to come up with ideas on how to get one step ahead. “I have an idea,” Jongho sighed as he put his hands on the table and lowered his forehead, obviously not a huge fan of the plan himself, “but Seonghwa, you’re not going to like it.” 

This certainly got the youngest boy’s attention as the two to his side switched off behind looking at their friend and looking at their boss. “Well Mingi is necessary for all of the handy work,” (This definitely earned a small smirk from the tallest boy), “and Yeosang is the brains behind the operation. Plus they have the deepest connection to our work and it’s likely that someone out there is able to recognize them.” Oh dear, Seonghwa did not like where this was going as his heart rate shot up. “However, you are familiar with the streets. You know what people want but only from pure observation. No one has any reason to suspect that you’re involved with us.” Jongho sat down and quickly wiped any kind of displeasure or apology from his face.

“I need you to go undercover Seonghwa. I don’t care how you do it but you need to get in there and find out what’s going on. Whoever is their new commander, get as close to them as possible and try and coax out whatever you can.” Oh, Seonghwa really did not like this. Before Seonghwa could respond, Mingi shot back with obvious surprise in his tone, “you want him to become a sex worker?” Yeosang opened his mouth to chime in but Jongjo shot a look that would quickly silence the two.

“I’m sorry when you say “undercover”, what exactly does that entail?” And for the third time since he woke up, Seonghwa could feel his headache return. “I wanted you to come to the conclusion on your own, but I think Mingi is right. Sex is a primal instinct and especially with Infrared, it can be the quickest and most effective way to get what you want.” Some light returned back to their leader’s eyes as it was imminent he didn’t feel great about what he was asking, but being the boss meant you had to make the tough calls. And Seonghwa knew he was right, this was the best plan of attack to get any sort of intel, but god was he not looking forward to this. “Fine, I guess if you really need me to become a fucking sex worker then that’s what I’ll do.”

Without realizing it, Seonghwa grabbed his jaw and lower temple, praying for the pounding in his head to stop, but when Mingi and Yeosang started laughing, the pain only got worse. “Alright, you two leave him alone. Seonghwa, go home and get some rest. I won’t be seeing you for some time and I want to make sure you’re prepared for this.” With a quick nod, Seonghwa quickly got the hell out of there and started walking back through the warehouse to get back to the hanger gates. 

Yet he didn’t get very far before his fellow members were on him, teasing him about what was to come. “Jongho said we can go with you back home and help you get ready. We’re gonna make sure you look absolutely ravishing.” Mingi said with some extra emphasis on the end of the sentence making it extra dramatic. Seonghwa grabbed his temple again and picked up his pace, counting down the seconds till he’d be outside with fresh air and so he could run back home without anything on his mind. “Oh no, Hwa is your head pounding? I guess that’s not the only thing that’ll be pounding soon, right?” Yeosang sarcastically stated as Mingi hollered and playfully hit his friend in response. 

The trio stepped into the night as the warm air and blue light distorted them for several seconds. Seonghwa was instantly covered in a thin layer of sweat and wanted to change into something more breathable right then, but first, he had to safely get both him and his friends back to his house. “You guys better keep up otherwise you’ll be left behind to work the streets,” Seonghwa said for the first time since he left Jongho’s office and without waiting for a response, took off into the glowing city.


	2. Two.

“So Hwa, what will it be?” Mingi laughed as he held up two glittery, mesh crop tops. One in light blue and the other a brighter pink. Seonghwa couldn’t help but roll his eyes and collapse on his friend's bed as he groaned into the sheets at no one in particular. “Give me the blue one,” the older boy said without getting up, obviously dreading the events that would have to play out in the near future. Yeosang couldn’t help but let out a small laugh as he got up from a chair and met Mingi at his wardrobe as they dove in to see what else they could dress their friend up in.  
____________________________________________________________________________

After the trio left the Calamity headquarters, they had sprinted to the train station that Seonghwa had left on his way to the clan, yet it was here that Seonghwa realized they had absolutely no plan. Even though his house was the closest, it could easily be the size of a shoebox and the only clothes he owned were black and would completely cover up - two things you did not need if you were an undercover stripper. So they had decided on Mingi’s place. It was in the center of the Fluorescent district and was loads nicer than both Seonghwa and Yeosang’s.   
Luckily for them, the train had arrived just after they did and as they sat on the ground and caught their breath, Seonghwa finally started comprehending what was asked of him and the thought made his stomach churn. 

As the trio sat in silence, the oldest one unconsciously started fidgeting as his heart rose and his head started to cloud over. If his friends noticed, they didn’t say anything. But after around 15 minutes of riding through the city, the train approached the closest station to Mingi’s apartment as the group prepared to jump onto the platform. Seonghwa hated feeling stagnant on the train, but it was almost always worth it for the adrenalin rush he got jumping off of a moving train and onto a platform two stories above the ground. The only thing he was focusing on was the hum, he let it consume him and infiltrate his brain as his muscle memory took over. And as he hit the ground and rolled to safety, he felt as electric as the wicked city they call home. 

Mingi’s apartment was far closer to his nearest station that Seonghwa’s was, so the three of them took a quick trip to one of their favorite bars, 红热, to loosen up. The combination of the red lights, loud club music, and one too many vodka shots was giving Seonghwa a headache and his friends didn’t look so hot sitting at the bar next to him. 

If their goal was to loosen up, then mission accomplished. Yeosang managed to drag his two friends out onto the main road before they did any serious damage but it was clear the drinks had already started to take effect. In the middle of a giggle fit, Mingi grabbed Seonghwa and pressed their foreheads together as he rested his arms on top of his friend's shoulders. “Listen, when you get back from sex school or whatever the fuck, you better still be the innocent loser you are now. I don’t want you to change just because you were locked in a sex dungeon for a week.” Taken back by his friend's sudden change in emotions, Seonghwa could only stand there speechless for several seconds before both he and Yeosang burst out in laughter. “Oh Mingi, sweetie, if you think there’s some kind of sex demon trapped inside waiting to come out, then you’re severely mistaken,” the shortest of the three said in between trying to catch his breath. As if a switch flipped inside his brain, Mingi started cackling at his own joke, unable to respond as he was also unable to catch his breath. 

As the three friends stood in the middle of the street, red light shining all around them and the humidity covering every inch of their skin in a thin layer of sweat, Seonghwa could finally laugh and soak in all of the energy around him. His senses were on overload. 

Even when he closed his eyes, all he could see was color.

His ears felt like they were bleeding. The laughter of him and his friends would’ve been enough but combined with the bass in the club music, the chatter of people on the streets and the hum had drowned out any sense of stability Seonghwa could feel.

He couldn’t feel the ground under his feet and the electricity (or alcohol) was running through him.

It seemed impossible for anyone to snap the oldest boy out of his trance, yet when Mingi grabbed him by the shoulders for the second time and slammed his lips to his, his high came crashing down and all he could do was stand in shock, fully aware of what was happening. While only for a second, Seonghwa could’ve sworn the two of them stayed like that, lips, crashing together, for hours. 

While his friends were too tipsy to realize what just happened, Seonghwa was now fully sober and now hyper-aware of the fact that his best friend and coworker drunkenly kissed him right in the middle of the street. Mingi tasted like a wonderful combination of sweat and hard liquor and as his headache returned for the first time since they left headquarters, Seonghwa started laughing at both himself and his situation. 

Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was the notion that he’d miss his friends while he was gone, or maybe it was that he felt the need to get as much practice in before the mission started. “Mingi-ah come here,” Seonghwa said with a smile plastered on his face as he grabbed his friend's shirt and pulled him in for another quick kiss in the middle of the road. A lot less aggressive this time around, the older boy only stayed like this for a split second before pulling away and watching his friends' expression.

Just as shocked as Seonghwa was the first time, Mingi stood there, frozen, until the switch went off again and he started to laugh. The pair had completely forgotten about their friend and when they turned to look at him, he stood, jaw dropped and trying to stifle a laugh. Yeosang could only not laugh for so long however and when he saw the duo look at him, he burst out laughing. 

It wasn’t long before the trio was once again walking down the busy street holding their stomachs from laughing so hard. This time it was different. The alcohol had started to wear off and this laughing fit was the kind where you tear up and get stomach cramps. Seonghwa enjoyed the walk to his friend's house as the only words that came were the occasional giggles and coughs of his friends as they bumped into one another trying to walk straight down the bumpy stone road.

“Damn Hwa, I can’t wait till you get back from your sex-capade so we can do that again.”

“Bite me, Mingi.”  
____________________________________________________________________________

And that is how Seonghwa wound up laying face down on his friend’s bed, headache still present, and various colorful clothing tossed on top of him for his choosing. 

As apartments go in Utopia, Mingi definitely lucked out in comparison to almost everyone else. He lived almost directly in the center of the Fluorescent district right on the edge of a reservoir - the only sign of nature in the city. The streets surrounding his complex got little foot traffic and besides the few waterfront restaurants and bars, the only noise came from the lights.

His flat was surprisingly well-kept. Mingi worked a lot less than Seonghwa did but he also enjoyed the nightlife way more than Seonghwa did; which would explain the colorful array of garments he was throwing every which way. 

“You know what? I feel like you don’t care as much as we do about this.” Mingi said, sarcasm dripping from his mouth as he gave a fake pout in the direction of his older friend.

“No shit genius,” Seonghwa said, finally sitting up from his friend's bed and taking a look at the clothes sprawled around him. He was fairly certain that none of these things would actually cover skin that he’d prefer to cover on a daily basis; nothing crazy just, you know, most of his stomach, his whole thighs, a good chunk of his back…

Seonghwa stood up, letting out a deep breath and walked to the closet. “Alright, you can get one or the other, my stomach or my legs, which will it be?”

Without skipping a beat, both Mingi and Yeosang nearly yelled “stomach”. “I’m sure your legs are great, but in your case especially, the ass is not a region you should focus on highlighting,” Mingi said with a mix of pity and teasing. Seonghwa said nothing (but responded with a heavy eye roll) as he continued to dive through his friend's closet in search of some pants and accessories that would match the top he had picked reluctantly. 

As Yeosang walked towards the bed and started to dig through the pile of clothes, he found something that sparked his interest. With a smile wide across his face, Yeosang asked, “hey this looks rather… tame. Just try it on for me please Hwa.” When Seonghwa heard his friend add a small whine to the end of his phrase, he could hear the shit-eating grin he had on his face - and boy was he right.

Seonghwa turned around to see his friend hold up a pair of black leather pants in one hand and a pair of black fishnets in the other. 

This earned a loud laugh from Mingi as he grabbed on to Seonghwa, practically begging him to try on the outfit Yeosang had picked out for him. All the older boy could do was hang his head and sigh deeply before silently grabbing the pants and stockings from his friend and his crop top from the bed. Without saying anything, he walked to the bathroom right down the hall as his friends wished him well in the form of whistles and hollers. 

“You’ll look so sexy I believe in you Hwa. If you want any makeup it’s in the overhead cabinet!” What would they do without Mingi and his moral support?   
If there was one thing Seonghwa didn’t pay attention to, it was his appearance. He spent most of his time working on missions for Calamity - missions that revolved around blending in. He was in a constant cycle of work, eat, run, sleep when you can which lead to almost no downtime for him to indulge in activities as his friends did. In fact, standing in front of Mingi’s mirror was the first time in a long time Seonghwa got a good look at himself. And for someone who lived on greasy bar food and minimal sleep, he was pleasantly surprised. 

Apparently all of the cardio he does on a daily basis has done wonders for his legs and waist as the fishnets only highlighted the slight hourglass figure he surprisingly had. He was grateful that he and Mingi were roughly the same size, Yeosang was definitely much shorter and skinnier than he was and he had no idea where he’d go to find clothes like this in such a short amount of time. So thankfully Mingi’s nearly see-through crop top and leather pants were a perfect fit. 

Even though he technically had a shirt on, there was little that could be left to the imagination. With the actual shirt stopping just above his belly button, it was loose enough that any movement would cause it to rise up and the mesh was thin enough to the point where anyone could see the indent of his nipples and the outline of his toned stomach and chest. To say Seonghwa was uncomfortable would be an understatement and can already see his friends making fun of him till the day they die. 

Mentally saying “fuck it”, he followed his friend’s instructions and got a small makeup back from the shelf and did the best he could with applying a bit of eyeliner and light glitter for a more dramatic look. 

Taking one last look at himself, Seonghwa left the bathroom and prepared himself for whatever reaction his friends would have to his new look. And react did they ever. As soon as the oldest boy stepped into his friend's room, someone outside would assume there was a murder actively taking place; but no it was just Mingi and Yeosang. The latter was initially hit with shock and could only sit on his friend’s bed, jaw fully dropped. Mingi, on the other hand, started screaming incoherently while words such as “fuck”, “hot”, “sexy”, and “hot piece of ass” were barely audible. 

After a few moments of Seonghwa awkwardly standing in the doorway and his friends having full-on meltdowns, Yeosang was the first one to collect himself and actually form a sentence. “Holy fuck, Jongho was right when he picked you for this mission. Whoever the new Infrared leader is won’t know what hit him.” 

Ah yes, the mission. Seonghwa had been completely focused on trying to dress semi-decently that he completely forgot about why he was worried about it in the first place; now the realization brought back the sick feeling he had before on the train. 

“So Hwa, now that you’re dressed to the 10’s, what’s the plan?” Mingi could not stop scanning his older friend and while the new amount of attention was off-putting, Seonghwa didn’t completely hate it. 

Right now he was feeling good, but when he thought ahead to his next course of action, he was fucked. Seonghwa knew that Infrared operated largely in the southern half of the Fluorescent district but he also knew that their men were everywhere, constantly on the lookout for their next targets. But when it came to an actual base, anyone’s guess was as good as the next person’s. 

The plan for right now was for Seonghwa to hop on the train and keep going south until he found the most populated streets and try to get information on the whereabouts of Infrared. Maybe it was a bad plan but for a guy in fishnets and mesh, it was the best he could come up with. 

As the trio stood outside Mingi’s apartment complex, Seonghwa realized how much he truly stood out in the near-empty street. Compared to his friend’s all-black ensemble, Seonghwa could be seen from miles away. What he didn’t realize was that the light would pick up on his sparkly shirt and the small gems would reflect back the same color, giving him a faint glow that accentuated his radiance. 

“Man I never thought I’d say this, but I’ll actually miss you,” Yeosang told his older friend as he reached out for one of those classic “kinda awkward, kinda not bro high-fives into a shoulder bump”. 

“Whatever shall I do without you Seonghwa, I don’t know if I’ll be able to survive.” Even though Mingi was obviously being dramatic, their friendship didn’t need words to reaffirm that he wished the best for the older boy. As far as friendships built on drug deals and watching out for violent sex worker wranglers, this one was pretty good.

Seonghwa said a quick goodbye to his friends as he turned down the street back to the train station, hoping he’d get there just as the next train did. As he got further away, he heard one of them yell, “We love you! Don’t catch anything, stay safe!” Seonghwa really had the most supportive friends huh.

As he quickly walked towards the station, he had forgotten about his recent fashion update and was only reminded when a reflection of his shirt caught his eye from a green restaurant sign up ahead. Something about the lack of physical restriction mixed with the tightness that ended at just the right points on his body made the tall boy walk with newfound confidence and swing. Plus it felt nice to have some ventilation and not have a layer of sweat on you 24/7.

He had reached the station in perfect time and before he knew it, Seonghwa was sitting on the floor looking out into the great city skyline and feeling the rumble of the train and the noise of the hum through his body. The cool walls felt nice on his back and arms and as he rested his head against the wall, a plan was slowly beginning to form. 

He knew who he should talk to first. When Infrared releases a new victim onto the streets after they’ve been approved for dirty work, their eyes shift into almost an ice blue. If the change was from contacts or something more permanent, Seonghwa did not know. But he did know if you were caught by a gang member offering yourself in exchange for food, money, power, whatever, and you didn’t have those blue eyes, it was game over for you. 

So it was simple, find someone who had gone through the Infrared trials and ask them where to go. How hard could it be?

When Seonghwa actually stopped to look around, he noticed that he wasn’t alone in the train car. For maybe the first time ever, he shared a car with another stranger who was dressed in clothes rather similar to his. With tight leather pants and a loose animal print shirt that was cut to reveal the entirety of his chest, the stranger glanced at Seonghwa with a small smirk. And because luck was on his side, when Seonghwa made eye contact, he looked into some of the lightest, brightest blue eyes he’d ever seen. 

“Hey there stranger.” The boy ran his hands through his blonde hair and started eyeing Seonghwa up and down, clearly interested. 

“Hello there yourself, what’s a pretty thing like you doing in a place like this?”

The blonde boy stood up from his seat before responding, slowly walking over to the other side of the cart where Seonghwa readjusted himself on the ground hoping that the more interest he showed, the more information he could get.

“Just looking for a little fun. If people like you come to “places like this” then I might have to check them out more,” he said as every word was laced with suggestion. He positioned himself right next to Seonghwa, standing over him and leaning against a pole that came down from the ceiling. 

Seonghwa could barely keep himself from stuttering and was surprised when the boy actually seemed intrigued by him. “So I have a question for you.” 

This was met by the stranger kneeling down right next to Seonghwa and resting his folded arms on top of his pulled up knees, eyes looking at him similar to how a schoolgirl looks at her crush. 

“What you do, how did you do it?” Seonghwa leaned in closer to the boy, his heart now racing and he was sure the worry in his voice was noticeable. “Who do you go to, where do you go?” Despite expecting a quick response, the blonde boy said nothing for an uncomfortably long time. The sound of the hum seemed louder than ever and as the train moved over the aged tracks, Seonghwa was hyper-aware of everything going on around him. From the colors bouncing off his shirt changes to the way the cold walls made his back ache, he noticed everything except for the change in the boy’s expression. 

What was a blank stare turned quickly into a soft smirk and a glint in his eye as he moved away from Seonghwa and got on his knees right next to him. As he leaned in closer, Seonghwa forgot how to breathe and his mind completely shut off except for fixating on the warm breath on his neck.

“Oh darling, how we’ll have so much fun with you.”

The last thing Seonghwa felt before blacking out was how badly his head hurt and the taste of blood in his mouth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yayaya chapter two!! thank you for the love on the first chapter :) it means a lot hehe!! expect more uhh spice (??) next time :0
> 
> twitter - twinklehwaa

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is definitely different than what I would ever assume I'd write, but I really enjoyed it and I hope you do too! It's safe to assume that the next chapter will be rather explicit so if that's not your thing then this probably isn't for you. <3
> 
> Twitter - twinklehwaa :)


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